Three-dimensional (3D) graphics are graphics (e.g., video frames or still images) rendered using 3D representations of geometric data. Certain 3D graphics may include scenes with objects that overlap each other, and objects that are farther away from a viewer's perspective may appear to be blocked (or partially blocked) by objects that are closer to the viewer. The complexity associated with rendering overlapping objects at different depths may be referred to as the depth-complexity.
It is noted that as the number of objects overlapping with each other in a given frame increases, the depth-complexity increases as a result, and a graphics processor may need to process the pixels in the overlapping regions multiple times (e.g., once per overlapping object) to determine how each pixel should be rendered. The increase of the depth-complexity may therefore reduce the speed at which the frames can be rendered by the graphics processor. Since the graphics processor may be required to maintain a certain frame rate (e.g., 60 frames per second), the performance of the rendering process may therefore need to be improved to avoid dropping below the required frame rate.